Games We Play
by Queenhaq
Summary: Kate meets the Gecko Brothers at a carnival (KatexRichie, KatexSeth, RichiexKatexSeth).
1. Chapter 1

Kate aimed her plastic gun at the yellow ducks in front of her, choosing the one in the middle row as her mark. She was about to pull the trigger when a voice from behind caught her attention.

"Did you know female elephants are called cows?"

"What?" Kate turned around to see who it was that had broken her concentration and found herself looking at a stranger. He was tall, lean, and wore glasses. While normally the geeky look wasn't her thing, she had to admit he was cute in a weird kinda way.

The stranger swaggered closer, invading her personal space as he tapped the plastic gun she was holding. His gaze was intent and intrusive, and she felt a trickle of fear run down her spine.

"Mister, you wanna play too?" the carnie asked.

"No, I just like to watch."

"Do I know you?" she asked.

A hint of a smile played across his lips. "Do we ever really know anyone?"

She quirked her eyebrow. "You're a weird one, aren't you?"

"That's not a very nice thing to say."

"I guess I'm not a very nice person."

"No, you're definitely not."

"Look, I'm in the middle of something. So, bye." She turned back to the front, determined to ignore him.

"I bet you won't make that shot."

His arrogance was irritating to say the least. She took a deep breath, focused all her energy on the target ahead, and pulled the trigger. The buzzer went off, indicating a successful shot. "You were saying?"

The smirk on his face deepened into a smile but he didn't respond to her taunting remark.

"You got a choice between the rabbit and the elephant. Which one you want, miss?" the man behind the booth asked, giving her a toothless smile.

"Elephant. You want the elephant."

"It's my prize," she huffed. "I get to choose, not you."

"But you do want the elephant, don't you?"

She did, but there was no way in hell she would admit that now. "I'll take the rabbit. Thank you." As soon as the carnie handed her the stuffed animal, the man beside her plucked it out of her hand. "Hey, give it back!"

"Make me." He leaned in, daring her to reach behind him.

His blue eyes twinkled with wicked delight, and her stupid heart skipped a beat. What the hell was wrong with her? "You really need to learn some manners."

"From you?"

"Nope. Find someone else."

"I'd rather not."

"I have a boyfriend, and he wouldn't be too happy about you hitting on me."

"Is that what you think I'm doing?"

Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, but then she realised he was deliberately making her doubt herself. "Yeah, you are. And doing a really crappy job of it."

"So how do I hit on you properly?"

"This guy bothering you?"

She turned around to find someone new watching them from a few feet away. Now _him_ she knew, at least by reputation. Seth Gecko was new in town, already in trouble with the law, and the object of many of her friends' fantasies thanks to his chiseled jaw and muscular frame. Fine, yeah, he was a hottie but he was also rumored to be the local dealer and that was definitely a turn-off in her books.

"Richie, you trying to pick up the deaf ones again?" Seth asked, approaching them.

He stopped next to the stranger, both of them watching her, amused, like they knew something about her that she wasn't privy to.

"Thought we talked about this, brother. No point in wasting good pick-up lines if they can't hear you," Seth continued.

"Wow, that's rude," Kate replied. "Guess bad manners run in the family."

"Oh, so she does speak," Seth teased, shooting his taller brother an amused glance.

The one named Richie smiled. "She does indeed."

She handed the plastic gun back to the man in the booth. "Do you guys have nothing better to do than harass women?"

"I wasn't aware we were harassing. I thought we were making polite conversation," Seth replied.

"You weren't," she countered.

"Richie, I thought preacher's daughters were supposed to be all nice and welcoming. This one is just-"

"Feisty," Richie interjected. "And I like it."

She quirked up her eyebrow, leveled Richie with a cold look. "Am I supposed to be flattered by that?"

"Yes," Seth replied. "Now how about you say 'thank you' like normal girls do when they're paid compliments?"

"But she's not a normal girl, Seth. Not at all."

There was Richie's weird, intense gaze again, the one where he could see into her very soul and witness all her dark, troubled thoughts.

"You guys are both freaks, you know that?" She turned around and stormed away, fully aware of the brothers' eyes boring into her back.

* * *

Seth watched while the brunette disappeared into the crowd. "So that's her."

"Told you I'd have better luck with her than you."

Seth snickered. "Yeah, right. From what I saw, you freaked her the fuck out."

"She was definitely interested."

"Sure she was, bro." Richie handed him a stuffed toy, a ridiculously pink, frilly rabbit. "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?"

"Give it back to her. Play the hero card. Maybe she won't hate you then."

Seth sneered. "Richard, you ain't exactly in her good books either."

"Don't be so sure, Seth." Richie pulled out a cigarette and lit it, pressing the cancer stick between his lips. "Maybe she likes to play hard to get."

"Yeah well, we don't have time for those games."

"What good is revenge if you can't enjoy it?"

Seth turned his attention back to the crowd, looking for the preacher's daughter again. He found her standing by the cotton candy booth, holding hands with a Bieber wanna-be, a sickly sweet smile plastered over her face. "You got a point there. Nothing will hurt that preacher more than-"

"-breaking his daughter," Richie finished the sentence for him.

"And that's what he deserves for turning in Uncle Eddie."

"Exactly."

The brothers exchanged a cold, satisfied smile.


	2. Chapter 2

Kate placed her hand on Kyle's thigh, stroking him over his jeans before inching her way up slowly. She leaned in closer, pressing her breasts against his arm, pleased that he was getting hard under her fingers.

"Kate, come on," he said with a nervous laughter, pushing her hand away. "You're missing the movie."

"I don't care about the movie," she whispered, biting his earlobe.

"Ouch!" he yelped, rubbing his ear. "Seriously, Kate. Stop it."

Frustrated, she sat back in the passenger seat. They were at the drive-thru, and, unlike everyone else in the world, her boyfriend actually wanted to watch the movie instead of making-out. She cast a sidelong glance at the car next to her. Jessica and Andy were groping each other, sucking face, and she exhaled an envious groan. Maybe she just needed to get Kyle away from the screen to get his full attention. "Let's go for a walk."

"Later."

"Seriously?"

"Geez, Kate!" Kyle glared at her, irritated. "What's gotten into you today?"

"Never mind. Just watch your stupid movie!"

She slipped out of the car, slammed the door, and stormed off towards the food truck at the other end of the field. What the hell was wrong with him? Why couldn't he be like the other guys in school who'd be jumping up and down to fool around with their girlfriends?

As she stood in line to grab a hotdog, her eyes surveyed the surrounding field. There were a group of older boys - probably from Parkston College - hanging out nearby and making a ruckus. In the center of the crowd was Seth Gecko, surprise, surprise. She observed him, watching as he chatted with the other boys. He was probably the same age as them but came across as much older, something about his face bordering on sinister. Everyone else was having a good time but he seemed to be only pretending, putting on a fake smile while carefully assessing everyone around him. Maybe that's why she found him so untrustworthy. Suddenly he looked up, and caught her gaze.

He didn't say anything, staring at her, practically daring her to look away. Despite that ball of nervousness in the pit of her stomach, she held his stare. And then he winked at her, pressing his lips together to blow her a kiss. The gesture seemed to come out of nowhere and she quickly turned away, her face flushed with embarrassment.

"Miss, what can I get you?"

She looked up at the guy in the food truck. "Hot dog, please."

"That stuff can kill you, you know."

She turned around to find Richie standing behind her, smirking. "Stalking me now?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

After paying for the hot dog, she walked over to the condiments section, fully aware of Richie following behind her. She tried to ignore him but it was impossible, what with him hovering around and staring at her the way he was.

When he pulled out a cigarette, she glared at him. "Really? You're going to lecture me on hotdogs while you puff on a cancer stick?"

"Do as I say, not as I do."

"Drop dead, jerk-off."

"Why so pissed?"

She gave him a mocking glance. "Because I don't like you?"

"You sure that's all it is?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He gave her a small, knowing smirk. "Lover boy seemed more into the movie than you. Now if it was a good movie, maybe I could understand, but Transformers? Really?"

For the second time that night, her cheeks grew red with embarrassment. "You're a creep, you know that?"

"How can I forget? You keep reminding me."

"I call it like I see it."

"I know. That's why I like you."

"Oh, am I supposed to be flattered by that?"

"I wouldn't let _any_ movie distract me if you were giving me a handjob. Not even _High Noon_."

The husky promise in his voice sent a ripple of excitement down her spine, but Kate told herself to stop it. What he said was _not_ a compliment, even if he - and a small part of her - seemed to think it was.

"You're blushing," Richie murmured, drawing closer. "You're cute when you blush."

She gave him a quick smile, and then smothered his face in her hot dog. He jumped back, throwing her food to the ground.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he barked, removing his glasses to wipe the mustard and ketchup off the lenses.

"Am I cute now?" she taunted.

"You're gonna pay for that," Richie threatened.

She shrugged her shoulders, repeating his words from earlier. "Maybe, maybe not."

He may have been initially flustered, but he appeared to be his slick self again as he flashed her a smile. "Oh Sunshine, you definitely will."

She tried to walk past him but he grabbed her arm, pulled her close, and then nuzzled her face with his so that she was now covered with ketchup too. She pushed him away, cursing at him. "Asshole!"

Laughing, he turned around and walked away, and she headed to the bathroom to clean herself up.

* * *

Two hours later she and Kyle were stopped by the side of the road - thanks to a flat tire - and were waiting for his dad to pick them up. She contemplated calling _her_ dad, but the decided against it. As far as he knew, she was studying at the library tonight. If Jacob Fuller found out she'd been at the drive-thru with Kyle instead, well, he wouldn't handle that very well.

"Have you gotten a hold of him yet?"

Kyle shook his head 'no'. He picked up his phone to check again. "No. I don't know why he's not picking up."

"Maybe I can call Jessica."

"Does she know how to change a tire?"

"No, but maybe she can come pick us up. My dad's expecting me home in an hour. He's going to flip out if I'm late."

"Fine, but I'm not leaving my car here."

She reached for her phone to call Jess who, thankfully, did pick up.

"Jess, can you come get me?"

"What?" Jess screamed on the phone. "Where are you? How come you didn't come to Monty's after the movie?"

Kate closed her eyes in frustration. By the tone of her voice and slurred words, it was obvious Jessica was hammered. Great. Just great. "It's okay, don't worry about it." She hung up the phone. "Can we call AAA?"

"I don't have that."

"Of course you don't," she muttered under her breath.

She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. Her dad would definitely ground her for tonight, which meant no beach party which she'd been looking forward to for weeks."Maybe you can flag someone down, ask them for help. We can't just sit around and wait for your dad to pick up the phone."

"Fine."

Kyle slipped out. Few minutes later, a car pulled over to help them out. The second she saw who it was, she groaned. Seth was behind the wheel with his asshole brother sitting in the passenger seat. Reminding herself to chill, she stepped out of the pickup truck and headed towards them.

Richie was already out of the car and talking to Kyle when she joined them. He gave her a casual smile, like they were strangers or something, but his eyes gleamed with mischief. "Yeah man, I can help you change that tire. Not a big deal."

She crossed her arms, gave Richie a defiant glare. "Really? You?"

"Want to stick around and help me out?"

"I'd rather slit my own wrists."

Kyle scowled at her. "Kate, why are you being so weird today? This dude's helping us out here!"

Richie smirked. "It's okay. I'm used to your girlfriend being bitchy to me."

"Richie, I've got places to be. I don't have time for your good Samaritan act," Seth bellowed from inside the car.

"I'll help you change the tire. Can you drop me off after?" Richie asked.

"Yeah, sure. No problem."

"How long is this going to take?" Kate asked.

Richie looked at her again. "I don't know. An hour, maybe two."

She had a sneaking suspicion he was lying. He was probably intending to draw the whole thing longer just to mess with her. "I need to be home. Now."

"Why don't you ask my brother if he'll drop you off? Make sure you ask nicely though."

Kyle gave her an encouraging smile. "Yeah, that way you won't get in trouble."

The last thing she wanted was to be stuck in a car with Seth, but between Richie and Seth the latter seemed to be the lesser of two evils. Plus, maybe she could actually reach home in time. She walked over to Seth, her nervousness increasing when he glanced back at her with an irritated expression.

"What do you want, Princess?" he asked.

"Can I get a ride home with you?"

"Do I look like a cabbie to you?"

"Seth, don't give her a hard time. Preacher's daughter probably has a curfew or something," Richie called out.

Seth stared at her for a few seconds before giving her a small nod of his head. "Get in."

She headed for the backseat but he stuck out his head to mock her. "I'm not your chauffeur, Sweetheart. You want a ride, you sit shotgun."

She circled the car, stopping to give Kyle a quick kiss on the cheek. "Call me in an hour. Make sure I pick up."

Richie chuckled. "Aw, your girlfriend's worried I'm going to hurt you."

Seth blasted the horn in his car. "Chop, chop, Juliet. I don't have all night for you to bid farewell to Romeo."

Kate rushed to the car and took a seat beside Seth. As they sped away, leaving Kyle behind with Richie, she felt her stomach twist into a tight coil. "Thanks for the ride."

"But?"

"What?"

"There's definitely a but after that sentence, so what is it?"

She turned to look at him. "If you lay a hand on me-"

Seth laughed, shaking his head. "Don't flatter yourself. I like my girls hot, not..." He turned to look at her, giving her a onceover before returning his attention back to her face. "Covered in stains."

"That was courtesy of your brother."

"Well, that's what you get when you mess with a Gecko."

Seething, she sat back in her seat.


End file.
